Hugh Robertson appalled by devastating report on Maidstone Hospital

Hugh Robertson is utterly horrified at the contents of the Healthcare Commission report into the outbreak of C. Diff at Maidstone and Tonbridge Wells NHS Trust.

Hugh Robertson, the MP for Mid Kent, has described today’s Healthcare Commission report into the outbreak of C. Diff at Maidstone and Tonbridge Wells NHS Trust as ‘utterly horrifying’ and ‘quite devastating’. The report examines two outbreaks of the infection in 2005 and 2006 and estimates that over 500 patients developed the infection which resulted in approximately 60 deaths where C. Diff was definitely or probably the main cause.

Hugh Robertson said, “I have never read such a damaging report on any aspect of public life. It is difficult to imagine that the picture it paints, of patients lying unattended in soiled beds, could possibly exist at any 21st Century hospital – let alone one in the county town of Kent. It made me quite sick to read the report.

One’s first thought must be for all the friends and families of those who lost their lives as a result of the Trust’s failings, but I will be working together with my fellow Kent MP’s to do everything we can to ensure that this never happens again.

It is very clear why the Chief Executive had to go but the Government’s management of the NHS, and the pressure exerted by the recent disastrous re-organisation, have also played a key part. This Trust now needs completely new leadership if it is to recover from this appalling and sickening episode”.